


Occupied

by WinteryGrave



Series: Heavy Series [2]
Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-11-27 01:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinteryGrave/pseuds/WinteryGrave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crisis of New Dawn was averted and the team is enjoying the relative peace in the wake of the convergence event. But when the ARC itself is attacked with the team trapped inside, they must fight not only to escape, but to protect the future from a threat they never expected. Sequel to "Heavy."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Evolution

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I’ve had rolling around in my head since before I finished “Heavy.” I wasn’t really sure if I would ever write it , but after I let my beta have the first few chapters to look over, she basically threatened my life if I didn’t. So, I guess what I’m saying is: if you don’t like it, blame my beta. It’s entirely her fault this exists.  
> If you haven’t read my first story “Heavy,” you might want to do so because this does follow the timeline I established there, but this story can stand on its own if necessary.

Jess glared at the digital clock on the computer screen and mentally willed the seconds to tick by faster. (Do digital clocks ‘tick’? she mused to herself. Perhaps ‘blink by faster’? Whatever.) It was Friday evening, nearly time to leave work, and she was anxious for the weekend to begin. Only twenty minutes separated her from her goal.

There was a time when the absolute highlight of Jess’s day was coming into work in the morning. She loved going through security and getting to present her badge identifying her as a high-ranking member of the ARC. She loved getting there early enough to make the first pot of coffee so it was ready for the rest of the team when they arrived. She loved organizing her desk while waiting for her legion of computers to boot up. Lester, usually so aloof and abrasive, was, surprisingly, much more friendly in the morning than he was throughout the rest of the day (Jess suspected this might be because no one had time to properly annoy him so early in the morning). Few people enjoyed their jobs as fully as Jess did and she could not bear to miss a moment of it. Before finding a job at the ARC (or more technically, the government had found _her_ for the job straight out of school- very cloak and dagger, as she liked to describe the affair), the best she could have hoped for was, she thought, a boring job at a software company, poring over lines of code all day. Her job at the ARC made her feel like a superhero.

She still loved her job, of course, in spite of the risks and long hours. How many people get the opportunity to be a part of something like the ARC? But recently, her favorite part of the day was getting to _leave_ work- shutting down her computers and collecting her bag and coat from her locker. As much as she loved being the field coordinator at the ARC, there was another title she was much prouder of and even more enthusiastic about: Becker’s girlfriend.

She and Becker had tried their best to keep their relationship quiet in the beginning, agreeing that it would be best to keep their private lives separate from their professional lives, to a certain extent at least. However, once Connor and Abby knew the secret was out in less than a week. To their chagrin, no one- not even Lester- had been surprised to learn that the two were seeing each other. Everyone seemed to treat their relationship as the inevitable culmination of their having met. Of course, that did not stop Abby and Connor from teasing Jess at every opportunity. Apparently it was one of Abby’s greatest joys in life to make Jess blush. Becker was far too much of a gentleman to threaten Abby to keep her from teasing Jess- at least, not seriously- but he felt no such qualms about intimidating Connor. As a result of this, Connor did his best to relegate his commentary on their relationship to times when he was certain he was in no danger of Becker overhearing him.

Lester preferred to feign complete ignorance of the couples under his command at work. Jess suspected it was because he hated the idea that he was actually running a time-traveling dating service and it helped him keep up the façade that he had no interest in the personal lives of his employees. Matt and Emily had kept their relationship mostly professional for the past year, but in the wake of the New Dawn incident and the apparent end to the “Ethan crisis,” the two had finally admitted their feelings to one another and were now dating. Jess knew- though she had been sworn to secrecy- that Emily had asked Lester for permission to move out of her quarters at the ARC and into Matt’s flat. Lester had insisted that he would have to consider the request and the possible security risks it presented, but Jess knew he would give in before long. As much as he loved to play the tough, unfeeling boss, Jess suspected that he harbored a soft spot in his heart for their happiness, especially after more recent events at the ARC.  

The past year had been a big year for everyone- culminating in the harrowing adventure of stopping Philip Burton and New Dawn- and everyone at the ARC was enjoying some much deserved downtime. Connor and Abby were back on track in their relationship; Connor was making impressive progress in his research on anomalies and Abby was working harder than ever to improve the menagerie for the creatures they were unable to return to their own times. Lester seemed to have proven his value to the minister, who had finally agreed that private businesses had no part in governing the ARC, and was enjoying having more input on how the ARC was run. Emily was still learning to live in the modern world, but was beginning to enjoy and even embrace certain aspects of the new world she lived in (primarily, shopping with Abby and Jess). Matt seemed happier now that the threat of New Dawn was behind them, but was still secretive and distracted at times, as though he was not convinced that their troubles were entirely behind them. Only when he was with Emily did he seem truly carefree and happy.

Personally, Jess was enjoying having extra time to spend with Becker. Even once they officially started dating after the incident in the parking garage, they did not have much free time to spend together outside of the ARC. Their shifts were long, the work was dangerous, and they were often too exhausted after work to do anything more than pick up some take away on the way back to his or her flat and fall asleep in front of the television.

“Relationship Becker,” as it turned out, was a very different man than “Captain Becker.” He had always been a mystery to her before they started dating and she had spent the past year enjoying unraveling some of those mysteries. One of her first, and very happy, discoveries had been that he could cook. Somehow she had always imagined him as more of a takeout guy, but in reality, he was a wonderful chef. More than that, he was kind and funny and exactly as obsessed with firearms as she had always suspected.

Becker was also very old-fashioned when it came to relationships. When she had hinted that he should consider moving in with her once Abby and Connor were married and had found a place of their own, he had blushed and mumbled something about appearances. At first she had been annoyed at his somewhat eighteenth-century attitude, but eventually the romantic in her won out and she decided she was lucky to have found a man who was so concerned about protecting her honor. And if she was really being honest with herself, she wasn’t ready to face having to share a closet- let alone a flat- with a “significant other” yet, even if that “other” was Becker. She simply couldn’t take the risk that he might ask her to throw out some of her shoes to make room for his things. But a girl could dream.

She leaned forward and propped her elbows up on her desk, holding her head between her hands, as she narrowed her eyes and refocused her attention on the digital clock displayed on the central monitor of the ADD. There remained only a few more minutes before Lester left and the night shift would begin to trickle in. She was permitted to leave on the weekends as soon as her replacement reached the security gate, so she was anxiously watching the security log for his name to appear on the roster. Prior to the convergence event, anomalies had been so common that members of the primary team worked nearly non-stop with no real regard for shifts of weekends. In the short amount of time since then, they had all gotten a much needed taste of freedom, and had become fiercely protective of their time away from the ARC. She began to consider the possibility of bribing her weekend replacement into coming in a few minutes early on Friday evenings so she could leave that much earlier.

“Daydreaming about your boyfriend again?” a voice interrupted her thoughts and she spun guiltily in her chair to face the approaching figure.

*             *             *             *             *

Downstairs in the armory, Becker was not faring much better.

He glanced over at the mountain of paperwork that threatened to tip off of his desk and spill onto the floor with a growing sense of trepidation. Lester had recently decided that the significantly diminished number of anomalies was an excellent opportunity for some of the staff who had been “delinquent” in keeping up with their field reports over the past year to catch up. Why it was so important for him to backfill the older mission reports was a mystery to the ARC staff, but it was clear from the tone of his email that Lester would tolerate no dissention in this matter. While Becker had thought he was safe, having turned in his reports in a very timely fashion in keeping with his military training, Lester had sent for his reports to be fetched from storage and requested that Becker review his reports and add more detail because, to quote Lester: “A report that consists of one paragraph describing the incident followed by five describing how the situation could have been dealt with more effectively with heavier firepower is hardly the type of document the minister enjoys reading.”

While he hadn’t been given a real time limit for completing the work, he knew that Lester would expect to see some progress before he left for the weekend and his work ethic prevented him from even considering leaving to enjoy his weekend with Jess before finishing at least a few. He glanced at his watch and noted that she would be preparing to leave soon, and since she hadn’t responded to the text he had sent her earlier, he needed to make sure she had a way to get home.

Gazing over at the stack of papers once again, he groaned and pushed himself away from his desk (which he had insisted be moved to the armory as soon as he had time to put in the request- he couldn’t bear being cooped up in an office all day, and for some reason, being in the armory surrounded by weapons calmed him). He would grant himself a five minute break to square things away with Jess before confining himself to the armory once again to begin afresh.

Becker lived for the action of the ARC. His whole professional career had been dedicated to dealing with the extremes of life. Downtime was not something he was usually good at dealing with, but after the past year, even he was grateful for the temporary break from world-threatening disasters. It was amazing how much perspective he had gained as a result of the incident with Philip Burton. Compared to the fiasco of New Dawn, what was a flock of pterodactyls attacking the London Eye? The job was still dangerous, but after surviving the past few years, even he was beginning to feel more complacent about the risks and confident in his team’s abilities.

The past year had brought more than just a break in the seemingly endless stream of misadventures the team seemed destined to endure: He and Jess were officially a couple. It had been an interesting transition for both of them, moving from friends and coworkers into a romantic relationship. Overall, it had been far easier than Becker had expected, though there had been a few difficult moments, particularly in the initial stages. Instead of having to deal with the awkwardness of informing their coworkers of their decision to date (or, more frequently trying to keep up with who Connor had already informed), they had been forced to endure several dozen versions of “Well, of course you are” and “About time, too.” It had been a very long time since he had been in any kind of a relationship, let alone a serious one. He had believed his job to be too risky and his life too uncertain to ask another person to put up with and so he was a bit out of practice. Learning to share your life with someone, no matter how strongly you feel about them, is always a challenge and Jess, for all her beautiful qualities, was not without her flaws.

For example, Becker had yet to find a time when Jess was not her usual perky self. Whether it was six o’clock in the morning or on her way to the dentist’s office, Jess attacked life with a kind of zeal and energy that left him stunned. Maybe this wasn’t a flaw, precisely, but it would grate on anyone’s nerves after a long day at work. His reputation as the stern, emotionless officer was in danger of being infected by her enthusiasm for everything.  

She was an absolute genius, as well. Not that she hadn’t mentioned it once or twice in the past, but seeing her in action, armed with nothing but her laptop and enough coffee to run a small plane, she was as dangerous as he was with a gun. And not just about computers either: There was an excellent reason she was the field coordinator for the ARC. She had an incredible memory for details and sorting through complicated situations, which made playing board games with her nearly impossible. Jess had tried several times to teach him how to use the computer system at the ARC, but he had never been a particularly attentive student, preferring to spend the time flirting and trying to distract her, a task at which he nearly always succeeded. In return, he attempted to teach her some simple self-defense techniques. Those lessons hadn’t gone as he’d planned either. Not that he minded. Usually.

For the first time in a very long time, he was honestly happy. He still worried constantly about the danger she was putting herself in by being in a relationship with him. A small part of him knew that he would always worry about her. He would worry about her if he was a banker or chef or any other normal job- it was just in his nature to worry about everyone he worked with. And he had quickly found out that Jess did not appreciate being thought of as a helpless damsel who was incapable of taking care of herself. But, unexpectedly, the good managed to outweigh the bad and he could not imagine his life without her anymore.

Their lives had certainly not been easy over the course of the past year. After that near fatal experience under lockdown, Becker always carried an epi pen on his person, just in case. Watching Connor and Abby’s relationship nearly fall apart after their return through the anomaly under the stress of the New Dawn Project had been a major warning to him: nothing was impervious. Given enough stress, any relationship could fall apart. The ARC had been in a state of upheaval with power struggles throughout Philip Burton’s reign that had put even more stress on their personal relationships with their coworkers. But, with New Dawn and (hopefully) the threat of the end of the world a month behind them, things would continue to settle. Unexpectedly, Becker was beginning to suspect that they may have a chance at a happy ending after all.

As he rounded the corner and entered the Hub, he saw Jess engrossed in conversation with Connor and Abby. Judging by the broad smile on Connor’s face, he was teasing Jess again. Though he would never say it out loud, he was pleased that Connor and Abby were still together. His annoyance at their relationship adding extra drama to the team, though valid, was overcome by the desire to see his friends happy. Glancing at his watch, he decided that it was late enough that most of the ARC personnel would have already left for the weekend, and therefore there was little risk of anyone seeing him break his usually professional demeanor for a moment of fun. Winking at Connor and placing a finger over his lips, took advantage of Jess’s distraction to sneak up behind her, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

   


	2. Before the Storm

Jess fought against the blush rising in her cheeks as she looked up at Abby, who was grinning down at her, pleased at having caught her so far off her guard. Behind her, Connor smiled broadly and winked cheekily at her.

“Actually, I was trying to figure out why some of my software hasn’t been running properly recently,” she said airily, brushing her hair back from her face as she stood to face the two of them. “I think Connor must have done something when he ran those upgrades last week.”

Connor held up his hands in mock protest. “Hey, it’s nothing I’ve done. My updates installed perfectly. If anything’s wrong with your computer, it’s because of that ridiculous operating system you insist on using. If you had kept my original design, you wouldn’t have these problems every time anyone tweaks the system.”

“All right, computer geeks: Play nicely or not at all,” Abby admonished them lightly, stealing Jess’s empty seat and looking at the items hastily stashed under Jess’s desk. “Someone’s eager to clock out today,” she remarked, nodding at the waiting coat and messenger bag.

“Well, I haven’t had much to do today,” Jess said defensively. “We can’t all hang out in the menagerie playing with Rex all day.” She crossed her arms and drew herself up to her full height, immensely grateful for the extra boost her heels gave her. “Is there any particular reason you two came by to question me?”

“As a matter fact, we did,” Abby answered, spinning around in Jess’s chair. “Connor?”

“We just wanted to check: do you need a ride back to the flat or are you and Action Man going out for an evening of romance and intrigue?” Connor asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Nothing terribly special, but we are planning to do something together tonight, yes,” Jess answered, ignoring his knowing smile on the pretense of checking her phone for any messages though  the battery had died several hours earlier. “So, no, I won’t need a ride home, but thank you. What are your plans for the evening?”

“The same,” Connor replied, “only I’ve planned more romance than intrigue for tonight. Our jobs are plenty intriguing enough.”

“Oh, Connor, a girl can never have enough intrigue in her life,” Jess teased. She shrieked as she was suddenly swept off her feet as Becker suddenly appeared behind her, having taken advantage of her distracted state.

“Captain Becker!” she admonished him playfully, swatting his chest. “Are you sure this is appropriate behavior for the workplace?”

“Definitely not,” he agreed with a wicked grin, leaning down to kiss her. “But I’d hate to leave you lacking for intrigue and surprise.”

“With jobs like ours, I hardly think that’s a legitimate concern,” Emily’s voice called from behind them.

“You two are ridiculous,” Matt muttered audibly as he approached the ADD, followed closely behind by Emily. “I’m surprised at you Becker. Does no one respect the rules of professionalism anymore?” he asked, surveying the two couples critically, though the glint in his eye betrayed his serious tone.

“Yes, because I’ve never seen you and Emily snogging where you think there aren’t any security cameras,” Jess said, giggling as Becker set her back on her feet, helping her regain her balance on her impractically high heels.

The tips of Matt’s ears turned red and the corners of Emily’s lips tugged up into a shy smile, but neither responded to her sly comment.

“You spend your days hunting for video footage of your friends making out?” Connor asked, leaning heavily against Jess’s desk, ignoring her frown of disapproval. “We should switch jobs sometime.”

“I spend my days monitoring all the cameras in the ARC, as per my job description, Connor,” she replied calmly. “And for someone who played such a key role in setting up the security for the building, you don’t seem to have any concept of where the cameras are either.”

“And what do you two lovebirds have planned for the weekend?” Abby asked, interrupting with a new topic of conversation before Connor could think up a retort. “Any plans?”

Jess smiled broadly. “None whatsoever.”

“No ARC, no computers, no dinosaurs. And no guns,” Becker added, somewhat begrudgingly as Jess looked up at him meaningfully.

“Yes, we’re pretending to be a normal, boring couple this weekend,” she said, smiling broadly.

“Well, that sounds lovely,” Emily commented. “This weekend, Matt and I are going camping.”

Jess couldn’t hide her surprise at that revelation. “ _Camping_?”

“Yes, camping. I’ve read that it is something people occasionally do for fun and recently I’ve missed sleeping under the stars as I did when I was a traveler.” Emily smiled up at Matt. “So Matt suggested that we go. This weekend we will be- what is the expression you used earlier Abby- doing it roughly?” She glanced at Abby for confirmation, who quickly ducked her head and shoved her hand against her mouth to prevent herself from laughing aloud.

“ _Roughing it_ ,” Matt corrected her instantly, his ears turning red once again. Connor inhaled so quickly to laugh that he choked and burst out coughing. Abby turned and slapped his back a little harder than was necessary, as though helping him dislodge something from this throat. “The expression is _roughing it_.” He glared at Abby who shrugged back innocently.

“What was that for?” Connor asked, clutching his chest in mock pain.

“Saving your life,” Abby said, “in more than one way.” She extended her hands to him and he helped pull her up from Jess’s chair. She leaned back against him and Connor wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Does that expression not mean what I thought?” Emily asked. The mischievous glint in her eye told Jess that the slip-up might not have been completely accidental. Her understanding of modern colloquial expressions was actually much better than she generally let on.

“I’ll explain later,” Matt answered sincerely, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

“I’m sure he will,” Becker whispered quietly into Jess’s ear on the pretense of reaching behind her to check something on one of the monitors. Jess fought to keep a straight face and Matt shot her a questioning look.

“Oh, good God, can’t you lot wait until you’re off the premises to engage in that kind of behavior?” a loud voice interrupted them, making Jess jump. “I promise you will still be as sickeningly in love and attracted to one another on the other side of the gate as you are parading around in front of God, my office, and the rest of the staff.”

“Sorry, Lester,” Abby said, quickly hiding her smile as Becker snapped to attention.

“Yeah, sorry, Lester,” Connor echoed. “Next time we’ll wait until you’ve already left for the day.”

“Or just meet up somewhere you can’t see,” Matt muttered under his breath so only Emily could hear him.

“You’re looking very nice tonight, Lester,” Emily said, trying to distract him from his growing irritation. “Going somewhere special?”

“Thank you, Emily, and as a matter of fact, yes,” he answered, straightening his bow tie smartly. “Dinner with the minister. It seems there’s been some talk of cutting ARC funding in light of the reduced number of anomalies over the past month and it’s up to me to convince him otherwise.”

“You’ll be fine, Lester,” Matt said calmly.

“Yeah, just ask if he’d like to help out next time raptors get loose in the city,” Connor suggested. “Tell them we’ve got plenty of EMDs to go around. That should shut him up.”

“Yes, thank you all very much for your advice on dealing with politicians,” Lester said testily. He turned and pointed at Jess. “Make sure your relief knows I’m not disturbed tonight. I don’t care if a bloody mammoth gets loose and takes a tour of the British Museum or a tribe of cavemen take over Charing Cross, I’m not to be disturbed.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully at her and she nodded smartly, giving him a quick salute in return.

“Have a lovely evening, Lester,” she called after him sincerely.  

“Enjoy your weekend, people,” he answered over his shoulder as he walked away from the group. “And do try to get all this lovey-dovey activity out of your systems before returning to work Monday morning!”

“Do you think he really has a meeting with the minister?” Jess asked thoughtfully, watching her boss stalk out of sight. “On a Friday night? Seems a bit unusual, even for Lester.”

“Usually he orders you _to_ interrupt him during those meetings,” Becker agreed. “With dire consequences if you take too long.”

“I bet he’s got a hot date,” Connor said, nodding wisely as he crossed his arms over his chest.   

“A hot, _secret_ date,” Abby added. “Which means we should just leave it alone.”

“If it’s a secret, it must be someone we’d know,” Connor mused, squinting his eyes and staring off into the distance. “I wonder who it could be…”    

“He _is_ married,” Jess reminded Connor gently. “So if it is a date, it could hardly be a secret.”

“Yes, but none of us know who he’s married _to_ ,” Connor insisted, clearly not willing to admit defeat. “After all, we’ve never met her. She could be anyone- maybe someone famous.”

Abby rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair. “Stop worrying so much about Lester’s love life and start thinking about your own. Don’t we have somewhere to be?”

Connor snapped back to reality. “Right, yup, plans.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Night, all. See you at home, Jess. Becker,” he nodded to them each in turn.  

“Your plans involve staying at the ARC after your shift is over?” Becker asked. “Not especially romantic, Connor.”

“ _Actually_ , we’re just popping back to the menagerie to pick up Rex. We’re having dinner in the park and we thought we’d let him fly around in the fresh air a bit,” Connor said smugly, obviously pleased with himself for coming up with the plans for the evening.

“I’m sure he’ll enjoy that,” Jess said sweetly. “Have fun!”

Abby waved to them all and the two turned to leave, already deep in conversation with one another.

Jess smiled as she watched the couple walk off arm in arm. After their return from the Cretaceous period, she had been concerned that their relationship might not make it, but they had survived the New Dawn ordeal and were now engaged to be married. Engaged! And Jess and Emily were to be  bridesmaids! Secretly, she thought she was probably more excited about the prospect of seeing Becker in a tuxedo than she was about the actual wedding- not that she would ever voice such a thought out loud. She pulled her jacket off the back of the chair and began pulling it on, one sleeve at a time.

Matt turned to Emily. “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded. “I just need to grab my bag from my quarters. I’ll meet you out by your truck in a few minutes.”

“Excellent,” he said. “Would you do me a favor and grab my jacket from my office on your way back?”

“Of course,” she smiled. “Have a wonderful weekend, Jess.” She waved as she nearly jogged away from the ADD, obviously excited to leave for her weekend with Matt.

Matt lifted the folder he was holding and handed it to Becker. “For you. Lester says you know what to do with these.”

Becker’s shoulders slumped in defeat as he took the file. “Don’t suppose you’d like to help me out with a few of these before you two leave?”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Are you crazy?” Matt had been reluctant to take any time off even after the convergence event, locked up in his office. When asked what he was so worried about, he usually brushed off the question, muttering something about making sure they had taken care of everything. It seemed Emily had finally convinced him to take the weekend off with her. Jess was glad that he was showing interest in something besides work for once. If anyone deserved some relaxation, it was probably Matt.

“Where would you like to get dinner?” Jess asked Becker as she flipped her hair out from under the collar of her coat. “Abby and Connor said they’ll be out for the whole evening. Something about date night running long.”

“Speaking of date night,” Becker asked absently, not looking up from the paperwork he was flipping through, “didn’t they just have that last night?”

“What can I say? They’re in love,” she said with a grin as she stood on tip-toe and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “And, as Connor says, he has a lot to make up for.” She began to rummage through her messenger bag, checking that she had packed everything she needed for the weekend so she would not have to return to work, double checking that her laptop was carefully tucked away with its charger. She didn’t care what Becker thought- her laptop didn’t fall into the category of work. “Are you ready to leave? I’m starved.”

“I’ve got to stay a little later than I’d planned,” Becker said apologetically, holding up the folder as an explanation “so I won’t be leaving for a little while longer. Not that much longer,” he assured her, as she stuck out her lip in a pout, “but I’ve got to get some paperwork done for Lester.”

“Paperwork?” she asked, surprised that there was enough work for him to need to stay late to take care of it.

“It’s a long story. I texted you a little while ago,” he said, nodding to her phone on the desk behind her.

“Oh,” she said, “sorry, my mobile died. I must have left my charger at your flat because I couldn’t find it last night. Which wouldn’t be an issue,” she teased, dropping her voice, “if we shared a flat.”

Matt shot her a surprised look over Becker’s shoulder as he quietly teased back, “And if you didn’t insist on keeping your phone on twenty-four hours a day, you wouldn’t have to charge it so much.”

“I don’t mind staying a little longer if you need to stay,” she offered loudly, ignoring Matt.

Becker shook his head. “You can take my truck. I’ll take one of the ARC’s spares when I’m ready to leave and I’ll meet you back at your flat.”

Matt’s eyes widened with surprise as Becker reached into his pocket and handed Jess his key ring.

“Isn’t that a slight abuse of your power, captain?” Matt asked with a small smile.

“It might be,” Becker conceded, “but since I apparently have access to some incriminating video footage of my boss, I don’t foresee it being an issue.”

Jess rolled her eyes as she stuck his keys in the pocket of her jacket as she finished doing up the buttons. A flashing pop-up on her computer screen drew her attention and she clapped as she read it. “The relief coordinator just checked in at the front gate!”

Becker smiled at her enthusiasm. “All right, I can’t keep you here after that kind of reaction; I’ll see you at yours in a bit.” He glanced at his watch and thought for a moment. “I’ll walk you out to the parking garage.”

“Becker,” she said, rolling her eyes, “I am perfectly capable of walking to garage on my own. I can take care of myself.”

He raised an eyebrow and lowered the papers, silently voicing his objection to her claim.

“Okay, admittedly, every time I’ve gone into the field has been an unmitigated disaster, but that was purely coincidental. I _can_ take care of myself. To some extent, at least.” She rolled her eyes at Becker’s pathetic attempt to hide his amusement. Jess had learned that it was best not to brag about her ability to take care of herself. Just a general familiarity with horror movies had taught her that the girl who thought she could take care of herself with no help was generally the second to die- right after the cheerleader or similarly scantily-clad girl.

He stood to his feet and looked down at her. “It’s late. I don’t like you walking around the parking structure alone in the dark.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, but took his arm. Secretly, she loved his protective side, though it was a bit tiresome at times, but it pleased her that he was so concerned for her safety. Of course, she certainly spent plenty of her own time worrying about his.

“If you insist,” she said, sighing dramatically and looping her arm through his proffered elbow. She grabbed her waiting messenger bag with her free hand and dropped it over her shoulder. “Lead on, captain.”

“I’ll walk out with you, if you don’t mind,” Matt said, falling into step with Becker. “So Becker lets you drive his truck now?” he whispered loudly to Jess. “Things _are_ serious between you two.”

 


	3. Breaking

“It’s so nice at the ARC now that everyone has someone to spend time with on the weekends,” Jess commented happily as the trio walked down one of the many long corridors that led to the parking garage. Sandwiched between Becker and Matt she felt a little like Dorothy from _The Wizard of Oz_ and had to stop herself from skipping. “Not that it wasn’t a nice place to work before, but now it’s just… nicer.”

“It is,” Matt answered somewhat slowly, “though it is starting to feel a bit like a nineties sitcom.”

“You’ve been catching up on television, I see,” Becker noted.

Matt shrugged helplessly. “Emily loves them.”

Far behind them, the anomaly detection alarm began echoing shrilly through the nearly abandoned ARC. Anomalies were becoming fewer and fewer in number as more time passed since the convergence event, and the sound was so unexpected that it startled all three of them. Instinctively, all three immediately reached up to feel their earpieces, but Matt and Jess had already removed theirs in preparation for leaving for the weekend and they both turned to face Becker, knowing the soldier would still have his on. Becker’s face turned serious as he listened to whatever was happening over the radios.

“Everyone is shouting. I can’t make anything out,” he explained, furrowing his brow.

Jess glanced at her watch worriedly. “I wonder if my replacement is at the desk yet. He might not have had time to clear security yet. Maybe I should go back and check.”

The alarm continued to blare as they paused, waiting for some sign that they should return. Shouts rang out, joining the echo of the siren, making it impossible to discern their original message. After several more tense seconds, the alarm was silenced but the shouts continued, growing in volume, but Jess still could not pick out one voice among the rabble. A chill ran through her, which she quickly shook off. This was the ARC, probably the safest place in all of London.

“This is Captain Becker. What’s going on?” Becker demanded, his hand pressed to his ear as he spoke into his comm. “Someone, please report.” He glanced helplessly at the other two and shook his head to indicate that he could not get a response.

“I should go back,” he decided a moment later. “Jess, you’re off the clock- no reason for you two to stick around to deal with whatever this is.”

 “I’ll walk her to the garage, Becker,” Matt volunteered quickly. “You see what that’s about.”

“Thanks, Matt.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek, ignoring Matt’s knowing smile. “I’ll see you at your place in an hour. I’ll bring dinner” he promised. “Chinese- completely normal and boring.”

She nodded, smiling briefly at his show of affection. “Be careful!” she called to his retreating form. The sounds of people yelling and running were still echoing gently through the hall, some of the voices clearly raised in alarm. “Do you think something’s happened?” she asked Matt, no longer hiding her concern. “No one’s set off the ARC’s interior alarms.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Matt said carefully, keeping his voice even, his brow still furrowed and staring back down the long hallway. It was his professional voice, the one she heard him use to often over the radio when things had gone completely wrong on a mission. “It’s shift change, so there’s probably some confusion with the alarms going off. Let’s get you to the garage and then I’ll-”

Matt’s words were drowned out by a loud burst of gunfire from within the ARC somewhere behind them. Jess’s hands flew to her ears to block out the deafening echoes as the gunfire continued and more guns joined the cacophonous racket. The sounds of shouting were immediately drowned out. Because of the design of the hallways, the sound echoed, making it impossible to tell if the guns were moving closer or further away from their current position.

“Move.”

Without stopping to think, Matt grabbed Jess by the hand and dragged her down the corridor away from the ADD and the Hub, taking a left turn after cautiously peering around the corner, and led her to an unmarked door. She recognized it immediately, remembering that it led to an old access shaft that he had ordered sealed off after coming to work at the new ARC. Dropping her hand, he knelt down beside the door, pulling two small pieces of metal from his back pocket and set to work quickly picking the lock. In no time at all, the door swung open and he grabbed her arm again and pushed her inside.

“You know how to pick locks?” she asked distractedly, spinning to face him, fascinated at the speed with which he had defeated the lock. “Matt, what’s going on?”

“That’s a conversation for another time, Jess,” he said, pushing her to the back of the small room and glancing around ensuring that it was secure. “Now, listen to me: you stay here until Becker or I come back for you. Lock the door after me. You don’t open this door for anyone else. Understand?”

She nodded quickly, too frightened to argue. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find out what the hell is going on. I’ll be back for you soon, I promise. Now, stay here. And call Lester.”

Jess nodded her understanding and he ducked out, pulling the door closed behind him. She stepped forward to lock the door, the deadbolt sliding into place with a decisive click.

“Wait,” she called through the door, suddenly remembering, “Matt, my phone is-”

Holding her breath, she listed to his footsteps echoing down the hall in between shots as he ran back toward the disturbance.

“Dead.”

*             *             *             *             *

As little as he liked leaving Jess alone and knowing that Becker would probably be furious if he knew, Matt had to trust that she would be safe where he left her while he went to investigate what was happening in the ARC. He only hesitated long enough to hear the deadbolt slide into place before he took off sprinting down the hall after Becker and the gunfire. He slowed as he reached the end of the hall and listened for several moments before daring to peek around the corner to ensure that the corridor was clear. Painfully aware of his lack of a weapon or earpiece, he felt extremely exposed.

A thousand different scenarios played out through his head as different explanations for the sounds he was hearing began fighting for dominance. The anomaly alarm. Gunfire. Shouting. Panic and disorder on comms. He knew better than most that there were few situations Becker’s men were not trained for. The fact that things could so quickly fall apart was not an encouraging sign. But now there was nothing for him to do except try to find his way to the source of the trouble and help in any way he could. With any luck, someone would set off the internal alarms that would alert the perimeter guard to the trouble inside and reinforcements would be sent in to secure the building.

The gunfire was becoming less and less frequent. The relative silence after so much commotion and confusion was oddly unsettling and Matt sped up his pace. Either we’re winning, he thought, or they are. Either way, the initial conflict was nearly over. While he was loathe to admit shortcomings in his own plans, he did not like the odds of the ARC personnel fighting off such heavily armed individuals with EMDs, no matter how good their training had been. He had crept all the way back down another corridor without meeting anyone yet and he was only two more corridors away from the Hub. It was unlikely that Becker could have made it much farther than here without running into trouble, Matt thought with concern. The ARC was nearly abandoned, especially during a weekend shift change, but surely he should have met _someone_ by now.

He took a deep breath and prepared to round another corner, but firm hand clapped down on his shoulder. He turned to face the owner of the hand, expecting to see Becker. Instead, the butt of a rifle swung toward his face just before he was knocked unconscious.

*             *             *             *             *

“Do not panic, Jess Parker,” she whispered to herself, clutching her hands into fists. “Do. Not. Panic.”

She fumbled in the dark in her bag, struggling with the zippers and gasping with relief when her hand closed around the object she was searching for: the small flashlight Becker let her keep after the incident at the construction site. She quickly turned it on and spun around, using the light to check that she really was alone and safe, locked away in the closet. The term “closet” might have been somewhat overly generous considering the space it claimed, she decided. It was perhaps five feet deep and less than four feet wide, with plenty of exposed cinder blocks and pipes. However, that was not the impressive part of the room, and she panned the light up to look up into the empty shaft that reached up at least five stories to the roof. There was no ladder or any means of reaching the outside from the bottom of the shaft, and, if she remembered correctly, the top had been sealed off with cement anyway. Now it resembled something more like a tiny, abandoned elevator shaft.

“It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” she muttered, briefly reflecting on how often she seemed to wind up stuck in tight spaces for long periods of time. Reassuring herself that she was safe for the moment, she forced herself to take another deep breath in and then chose a sturdy looking pipe at the back of the space to carefully sit on. She slipped her messenger bag off her shoulder and carefully leaned it up against the concrete wall next to her legs.

In the Hub, time seemed to speed by. Coordinating multiple teams’ movements as well as issuing orders to other civilian organizations was no easy task. Seconds meant lives when an anomaly opened in a public place. The ADD churned out a massive amount of information for her to sift through in order to make the best choices in directing the teams in the field. She had access to camera feeds, local media outlets, live reports from the teams on their earpieces, and anything else she could think of during an emergency.

Now, locked in a dark closet with no information about the rest of the ARC but what her ears could tell her, she felt completely helpless. Beneath the sporadic burst of gunfire, she could make out the sounds of people running men shouting, but no matter how intently she listened, she could not distinguish one voice from another. At least once she was sure she heard a woman scream very close by, which frightened her, but she forced her brain to keep working, to keep thinking of possible solutions to the problem placed before her and not panic.

Her mind raced to provide a plausible explanation for the commotion. An escaped creature from the menagerie? That made the most sense, except, of course, that no ARC employees- not even members of the security team- were permitted to carry conventional guns. And the anomaly siren had sounded. Had a team been dispatched to deal with it? There was no way of telling. It was possibly the worst time of day for any sort of emergency situation to appear- it was the change of shift before the weekend, not to mention that the ARC was already running on a skeleton crew.

After several more minutes of more gunfire and muffled shouts and screams, silence fell. Jess wanted nothing more than to throw the door open, rush out and find Becker to make sure he was all right. But Matt’s warning and her fear of what might be waiting for her beyond the locked door left her paralyzed. She could only imagine Becker’s stern look of disapproval if she disobeyed a direct order from Matt and threw herself into an unknown, and very likely dangerous, situation.

So she waited, telling herself that any moment Becker or Matt would return for her and all her questions would be answered. What were a few guns compared to a group of raptors or a Tyrannosaurus rex? But long moments passed and she could hear nothing outside the door except occasional, distant footsteps. She had listened to Becker’s heavy footsteps as he walked around her flat long enough to be able to identify the shoes as combat boots. Her mind flooded with terrifying images of Becker, Matt and her other friends lying hurt somewhere in the ARC while she hid, forgotten and useless, in a closet only a few floors away. She shook her head, dislodging the images. A few more minutes, she promised herself. Just a few minutes longer.

Jess waited. No one came for her.

*             *             *             *             *

Becker was going to have to have a serious talk with his men about how to use radios in an emergency, he thought to himself as he jogged back down the corridor away from Matt and Jess. What use was it requiring all personnel to wear an earpiece if when something _did_ happen, everyone panicked and jammed the frequency with useless, overlapping chatter?

Matt would get Jess safely out to his truck. He didn’t have to worry about her, he reminded himself sternly. He could focus on whatever was going on in the ARC. If an anomaly call had been red flagged as extreme priority, the relief field coordinator would have contacted him immediately on a private channel, and he hadn’t. If the field coordinator wasn’t at the ADD, who had turned off the alarm?

He broke into a sprint as the sound of gunfire erupted end echoed through the ARC. Since Matt’s arrival as the new leader, no team members or security personnel were permitted to carry conventional firearms. Against his first instincts, Matt’s EMDs had proven so effective in the field that Becker had few reasons to protest their use and eventually they had reached an almost friendly agreement concerning the restocking of the armory. He pulled the EMD from his thigh holster as he ran, charging it up without even looking down as he raced back into the heart of the ARC.

He rounded the corner and was immediately met by three large men, all heavily armed and obviously not members of the ARC security staff. The largest knocked the EMD from Becker’s hands and punched him, taking full advantage of having caught the soldier off his guard. He staggered back at the force of the blow before regaining his balance and taking a moment to size up his opponents. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, ducking a wild punch and used the man’s momentum against him, sending him sprawling to the floor. The second man stepped forward to challenge him next, but was quickly rebuffed by a sharp blow to his solar plexus, causing him to stagger back into the third, who shoved him out of the way to stop to Becker, pulling a knife from his vest as he did so. He swung the knife at Becker, which he blocked with his forearm. They struggled for control of the knife for a moment before Becker twisted it from the man’s hands and kicked him back against the far wall. By this time, the first two had climbed to their feet and were preparing to attack again.

They were large, brutish men, more suited to brawling or bar fights as their technique was sloppy and imprecise and- individually- they were really no match for a highly trained member of the SAS. However, as an organized group, they were certainly putting forth an excellent effort, Becker noted as he ducked a wild haymaker only to catch the full force of an uppercut. Just as he was gaining the upper hand, an incredibly loud and shrill tone erupted in his earpiece, causing his to falter and drop the knife as his hands few to his head and he doubled over. The feedback was deafening and nearly paralyzed him. Before he had the chance to pull the piece from his ear, a meaty hand grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back as he was wrenched to his feet. A moment later he was thrown backward as one of the men drove his knee into his stomach, sending him flying back into the wall. Just as suddenly as the tone had started, it had stopped, leaving his ears ringing and his head pounding. One of the men had retrieved his EMD and raised it to aim at him.

“Take him,” he ordered the others as he pulled the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s right- I’m a jerk for ending on a cliffhanger. But we’ve definitely arrived at the “action” part of the story and things are only going to get crazier from here. Seriously. I hope you’re enjoying the story so far! Since I posted the first three chapters together, I’m planning on posting Chapter Four in two weeks time.


	4. All-Seeing Eyes

**Chapter Four- All-Seeing Eyes**

Emily had felt something was wrong the moment the anomaly detector alarm sounded. Alarms were hardly unusual in the ARC, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was a familiar one that demanded to be heeded. She was more than halfway to Matt’s office when the siren sounded, the bag she had packed for the weekend slung over her shoulder. She hesitated for a moment, debating her next move.

After several seconds’ pause, she settled on continuing to Matt’s office. It was on the way to the Hub anyway and she had a better chance of running into someone who could tell her what was going on. One thing she had decided she would never become accustomed to was having someone’s voice constantly echoing in her head through the earpiece they insisted she wear. Matt rarely removed his- he frequently even slept with it- but at her request, he was getting better about leaving work at the ARC. Unfortunately, she had removed hers and left it in her quarters, and so she had no way of contacting anyone over the radio to find out what was going on.

Emily rounded the last corner purposefully, quickening her pace as the siren cut off and the ARC was instead filled with shouts of alarm and gunfire. In her haste, she nearly ran headfirst into a large glowing light- a portal, an anomaly. In the ARC.

In her somewhat limited experience of life in the twenty-first century, she had at least learned that nothing good could come from such a thing. She looked around for someone to alert to the potential danger, but there was no one else nearly. Straining her ears, she picked out bits of conversation from the shouts and shots bouncing around the ARC: calls of warning, talk of more anomalies. Was there more than one anomaly in the ARC?

“That’s a bit much for coincidence,” she murmured, edging her way around the anomaly, pressing herself tightly against the wall. She needed a weapon, or at least something more substantial than the knife she kept tucked into her boot, and she knew Matt kept a spare EMD in his desk. If there was no one else to secure this anomaly, she would have to do it herself.

She had just reached the door to Matt’s office when movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention: a figure was coming through the anomaly. She opened the door and ducked inside less than a second before the figure emerged. Through the sliver of space she left between the door and the door jamb, she observed not one, but two men step through the anomaly. They were large, hulking men and heavily armed. Each brandished large firearms as they checked to make sure the corridor was secure. Emily resisted the urge to push the door closed for fear that the sound would draw their attention. The first man lowered his weapon and checked his watch, nodding over his shoulder to the second. Together, they stepped away from the anomaly without a second glance as it promptly winked out of existence.

*             *             *             *             *

Minutes crawled past and Jess could hear nothing from the other side of the door. A lesser person (or possibly a braver person, she scolded herself) might have been tempted to leave to find out what was going on for themselves. But Jess was perfectly content to follow Matt’s orders to remain where she was, at least for the moment. There was no glory in interfering in a situation you are not trained to deal with, particularly once you have been given orders _not_ to do so.

But just because she was trapped did not mean that she could not try to help.

Holding the small flashlight in her mouth, Jess reached into her messenger bag and began rummaging through it, searching for the case she kept her earpiece in when she was not using it. After several moments of blind groping, she felt her fingers close around the hard plastic. She flipped it open with one hand and pulled out the tiny ear bud.

“Got you,” she whispered to it as she took the flashlight from her mouth and inspected the device. She raised it to her ear, but just before she put it in, an incredibly loud tone emanated from the tiny earpiece, startling her so badly that she nearly dropped it. Her heart skipped a beat as she clutched the piece to her chest, hoping the noise had not been loud enough to be heard through the heavy door. After several seconds the tone cut off and the bud lay quietly in her hand as though nothing unusual had happened. She stared at it suspiciously for a few moments more, catching her breath and reassuring herself that it would not happen again, before pressing it into her ear. Expecting (and hoping) to hear chatter from the security team as they dealt with whatever was going on, she was instead met with silence, broken only by a low, static pulse.

Radio jamming, her brain supplied helpfully. Someone was jamming the comms channel to cut off communication inside the ARC. The security system should have protected their channel from any tampering, Jess thought, somewhat incredulously. Thinking of the sharp tone, which she had initially attributed to feedback or a technological glitch, she suddenly wondered whether that had been intentional; to temporarily incapacitate anyone wearing an earpiece. It was the kind of thing she might have thought of if she were planning an assault on a military base: cut off communication and cut down your opposition in one smooth move. Someone was tampering with the ARC’s security system.

“Becker? Connor? Can anyone hear me?” she whispered uselessly, knowing there would be no response.

She could feel herself beginning to panic again. She was trapped in a closet in a top secret government facility that had been infiltrated by an unknown hostile forces and she had no way of communicating with anyone. Her mind immediately flashed to Becker, who had been very close to the gunfire. What if he was hurt- or worse? What use was she, a field coordinator, when the field was their own facility and she was trapped with no resources other than a useless earpiece, a dead cell phone, and her laptop?

Oh, she thought suddenly, staring into her messenger bag. Her laptop.

To anyone else, a laptop would be completely useless. All the ARC’s systems were kept on a heavily protected network that was completely cut off from all outside access, including any computer not physically connected to the system. Most employees did not even bother bringing their personal laptops to work because they could not even access the ARC’s wireless internet.

But she was not anyone else. She was Jess Parker, and she had designed the system.

Well, she thought to herself, chastising herself for panicking, _redesigned_ it. After New Dawn, all of Philip’s additions had to be purged from the ARC systems and she had taken advantage of the opportunity to tweak the system to her own preferences. And while a few of those changes might not fall into the traditional definition of “sanctioned modifications,” they were certainly necessary and, hopefully, would now pay off.

She quickly pulled her computer out of its protective case, leaning her bag against the wall and balanced it on one of the larger exposed pipes beside her. She booted up her hard drive, impatiently waiting for it to load and connect to the ARC’s protected network. As the light from the screen lit up the small room, she switched off the flashlight and tucked it into her jacket pocket, thinking she should save the batteries in case she needed the light again later.

Jess smiled to herself as she waited for the network to authenticate her username and password. The fiasco with Connor’s accidental lockdown had taught her a very important lesson: always leave yourself a way back in. After that day, and without bothering to mention it to Philip or Lester, she had built herself a series of backdoors into the system. Her access would be somewhat limited, but it was better than nothing. And she would certainly have the element of surprise.

As soon as she was logged in, she accessed the CCTV feed, quickly flipping through the dozens of images as she searched for Becker. The fighting was all over. How could they- whoever _they_ were- have possibly overrun the ARC’s security forces in so little time? She paused on several cameras, making mental notes and observations about the general state of the ARC, ever the field coordinator.

Because of the time of day and lower staffing needs, there had been relatively few people in the building when the alarm had sounded. From what she could tell, most of the weekend relief staff had not yet made it through security, so only a few dozen members of the day shift had been inside the ARC. A few cameras revealed small groups of scientists and soldiers, their hands and ankles bound, being held under heavy guard in a few of the offices several corridors over from the Hub She did her best to keep up with how many intruders she saw, but quickly lost track. They were keeping some kind of roving patrol and kept passing different cameras, which threw off her estimation. Unfortunately, there did not seem to be any real shortage of them, all heavily armed and dangerous-looking.

But she had yet to see any of her friends among the dozens of hostages she had seen so far. Connor and Abby had been in the menagerie, Emily in Matt’s office, and Matt and Becker… She did not like to think about the possibilities if she did not find them soon.

*             *             *             *             *

Becker was vaguely aware of being dragged down a maze of corridors further into the ARC. His cloudy mind could not keep track of the turns and he did not know where he was being taken. He fought unsuccessfully against the dizziness and nausea that came with being shot at close range with a fully charged EMD. He clenched his eyes closed against the bright lights that glared down at him. _I hate EMDs_ , he thought to himself as the men pulled him to his knees and forced him to support his own weight as they secured his hands behind his back with several zip ties. _I hate them_.

After several more minutes he managed to force his eyes open, swaying on his knees. It was still a few moments before he began to feel slightly recovered from the attack and he began to examine his surroundings. He was alone in one of the many nondescript offices dotted throughout the ARC. A cough by the door drew his attention and he realized that he was not alone after all: a single guard stood inside the door, watching him closely.

“Eyes front, captain,” the man snapped upon catching Becker watching him.

Becker turned his head back to the blank wall, taking the momentary respite to clear his head and think about what had happened, trying to call back any details that might help him identify the men he had fought or what they might be after. Unfortunately, his head was still spinning, making it difficult for him to focus on anything but keeping his balance. He doubted the gunman who guarded him would be overly sympathetic to his current condition.

Becker snapped out of his daze when the door opened again. Two large men entered, dragging Matt between them, who was still struggling within their iron grips. One cracked Matt across the back of his head, stunning him long enough for them to pull his arms behind his back and bind his hands. The men forced him onto his knees beside Becker and then turned to the man standing guard over the two prisoners, waiting for orders.

“Secure the door until time to move. I have the others patrolling for stragglers.”

The pair nodded and marched to the door, taking up defensive positions.

Becker glanced over at Matt, who was sporting a black eye and a bloody lip, but he was alert and observing their guard, sizing them up.

“Are you all right?” Matt asked in a low voice.

“Shut up!” one of the guards snapped, leveling his gun at them. “No talking.”

Matt shrugged apologetically and the man lowered his gun slightly, leaning back against the doorframe, watching them closely.

“Where is Jess?” Becker whispered when the guard glanced away. “What happened to her?”

“She’s safe, last I saw her,” Matt answered, leaning in closer to avoid being overheard. “She hid.”

Becker relaxed slightly. “Thank you.”

“Did you see Emily?” Matt asked, his eyes betraying his calm tone.

“No, I-” Becker began, cutting himself off as the guard glanced back over at them. He met Matt’s gaze and shook his head.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, one of the guards turned so they could not see his face and began to whisper to the other.

“Any idea who these guys are?” Matt asked, seizing their momentary distraction to speak.

“Not yet,” Becker answered, “but I think they may know more about us than they’re letting on.”

*             *             *             *             *

Jess peeled her eyes away from the glowing screen long enough to glance at her watch. It had been almost an hour since the anomaly alarm had first sounded. The security feed had revealed that the ARC was largely under the control of the intruding men. Dozens of hostages were crowded in a few of the outer offices and always guarded by several men. More of them roamed the halls, ensuring that no one escaped their net. Finally, just before she gave up hope, she found Becker and Matt. They were together, thankfully, kneeling on the floor of one of the larger offices halfway between her current position and the Hub, their hands bound behind them and guarded by two large men.

“Why would they hold you two separately?” she mused, wondering why they had not been moved to the room with the other hostages. They looked okay, Jess decided, peering intently at her screen, if somewhat worse for the wear since she had last seen them. After seeing the forces they had been up against, she was relieved that they were both still alive.

Of course, being able to see them did not improve her current situation, let alone theirs. There was only so much she could do with the limited access she had to the ARC’s computer systems. Half of a field coordinator’s power came from the forces she directed in the field.

“I need to talk to you,” she mused to herself, narrowing her eyes at the screen. There was no chance of tapping into the ARC’s speakers, not that they would be of any use to her anyway. Matt did not have an earpiece, she remembered, but she knew Becker had his when he left. The channel their radios were on was jammed and there was no way she could clear the frequency from here. Of course, there was always more than one way around a problem.

Opening a new window on her laptop, she pulled up the list of frequencies the ear buds operated on. There were backup frequencies that could be used for privacy or in case of emergency, but if someone had been smart enough to jam the main channel, it was a good bet they had jammed those as well. What she needed to do was create a new channel far enough outside the spectrum of their normal frequencies that it would not be affected by the jammer. The challenge after that would be to manually switch individual earpieces over to the new, unprogrammed channel.

With any luck, he was still wearing it. If he had taken it out or lost it during a fight, there was nothing she could do. Worse still, she realized, if the earpiece had been taken from him, one of the intruders could be monitoring it for transmissions. It was just a chance she was going to have to take.

“Well… Here goes nothing.” She double checked that the earpieces had synced to the new frequency and keyed up her earpiece. “Becker? I really hope this is you.” She crossed her fingers and watched his face closely on the video feed for any sign that he could hear her. She checked the frequency to make sure she was broadcasting to the right earpiece. “Are you all right? I’m watching you right now on the CCTV and I really wish you could answer me.”

Becker’s facial expression never changed, but after a moment, he raised his gaze from the floor to stare directly into the lens of the security camera on the wall above him for a few seconds before lowering it again.

“Oh, thank God!” she breathed. “Listen, I’m hooked into the ARC’s security systems. I’m watching what’s happening. Right now I don’t have any way to contact anyone outside the ARC to let them know what’s happening.”

He blinked and she knew he understood. 

“I’m going to need some help if I’m going to be of any use to anyone. I can try to help you and Matt escape if you get the chance.” She paused and switched off the transmitter for a moment. “Just as soon as I figure out how to do that.”

He chanced another glance at the camera and there was no mistaking his intention from the expression on his face, which she pointedly ignored.

“They can’t trace the signal back to where I am. I’ll be as safe as anyone else here. All right?”

*             *             *             *             *

Becker scowled, somewhat more dramatically than he had intended, and accidently caught the attention of the guards.

“What’s going on?” One of the men demanded, abandoning his post by the door. He stood above the two hostages and leveled his gun at Becker. “Just what are you making faces at?”

“Headache.” Matt supplied quickly before Becker could say anything. “I hardly think you can blame him for that.” He jerked his head to indicate the bruises that were quickly forming on the captain’s face.

The guard snorted and lowered his weapon. “If he wants to avoid a worse headache than he’s already got, he’ll learn to follow instructions. No talking, no moving.” He waited a long moment to allow his words to sink in before turning back to the other guard.

The larger man glanced at his watch. “It’s time to move them and report in.” 

“Looks like you’ll get to move after all,” the first guard snapped. “On your feet.”

 


	5. Escape

**Chapter Five- Escape**

“Are you ready to go out, Rex?” Abby called as she and Connor entered her lab. “Rex?”

A cheerful chirp drew their attention to the small animal carrier on Abby’s desk, upon which Rex was perched as though eagerly waiting to get inside. The small dinosaur preened happily as Connor scratched him behind his ears in greeting.

“Good boy, Rex!” Abby cooed, opening the wire door for him and slipping him a few pieces of apple from her pocket to munch on as a reward. “Are you ready for a picnic?” She quickly set about grabbing her jacket and backpack from behind her desk, resolutely switching off her computer.

“Do you have everything you need for the weekend?” Connor asked. “I’d rather not come back until Monday, if we can manage it.”

Abby nodded and smiled as she picked up Rex’s crate and handed it to him. “Ready when you are.”

The anomaly alarm sounded throughout the ARC, though it was somewhat muted in the menagerie, distracting them from any comment Connor might have been about to make. Abby had talked Lester into installing sound-proof walls to keep the creatures from being constantly disturbed by the anomaly alarm. Connor started to say something but one look from Abby silenced any suggestion that might have escaped his lips of investigating the alarm.

“The relief team can handle it,” he assured himself aloud and she nodded her agreement.

Rex began squeaking and chirping anxiously, knocking against the door of his crate. Connor and Abby exchanged a confused look and Connor set down the crate and peered in.

“Hey, buddy, what’s the problem? That’s nothing you haven’t heard before.”

“Connor,” Abby called, and he glanced over to see that she had wandered away to stand by the enormous windows of her lab that looked out over the creature enclosures. “Look at this.”

He glanced back at Rex, still shuffling anxiously within the confines of his crate, before joining her and looking out over the enormous room. Every creature he could see was as distressed as Rex, jostling against the sides of their cages, emitting a cacophony of protest against some unseen threat. The anomaly alarm cut out abruptly, but still the creatures did not calm themselves. In fact, Rex seemed more distressed as his alarmed squeaks raised another octave.

“I don’t ever think I’ve seen the creatures react like this,” Abby said, her brow creased as she watched them through the thick glass. “Most of them are used to the alarm by now. This is something else.”

She glanced at Connor, expecting him to argue, but he only frowned.

“You’re the expert in here.”

They spent several more minutes staring out at the creatures as Abby debated what to do for them, sometimes out loud and sometimes in her head. Connor did not press the issue; he knew that Abby would not agree to leave the ARC until the creatures were well taken care of and she did not trust anyone but herself to do it. He doubted even her hand-picked assistant who was scheduled to be on-site this weekend would have been entrusted with this mystery, were he here. Connor frowned, realizing that her assistant _should_ be there. He was never late, not after Abby had chewed him out for being three minutes late to a briefing once. He opened his mouth to voice this concern when he was interrupted by an incredibly loud feedback tone screaming through his earpiece.

They each tore their comms from their ears and threw them onto Abby’s desk, staring at them in confusion.

“What was that?” Abby gasped, rubbing her ear and wrinkling her nose, confirming his suspicion that the feedback tone had not been limited to his earpiece, ruling out a hardware error.

“Definitely not something good,” Connor said firmly, clutching his chest to try to calm his racing heart. He was already running through scenarios in his mind to try to explain the series of events they had observed over the past few minutes, and none of the solutions he came up with were positive. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand. “We need to get out of here and find someone who knows what going on.” _And I need to get to the ADD_ , he thought to himself.

He led her back down the hallway to the secure entrance to the menagerie, slowing as they approached the heavy doors that separated this section of the ARC from the main body of the building. The doors were equipped with long-range scanners to open the doors for authorized personnel before they reached them from this side of the door, but they did not budge. Abby rolled her eyes.

“The scanner has been a little slow for the past few days,” she explained, extending her ID bracelet to the scanner beside the door, and stepped forward preemptively.

The doors did not budge. Connor did not even bother to scan his bracelet, choosing instead to throw his weight against the doors, rebounding of sharply.

“Right, those are definitely not going to open,” he surmised wisely, rubbing his throbbing shoulder. “I think they’re locked from the outside.”

“That’s impossible,” Abby argued, pushing past Connor to try the door herself. “These doors shouldn’t be able to lock anyone _in_. You wrote the security protocol yourself.”

“I’m not arguing that; I just think the door would disagree with you,” Connor replied calmly as Abby continued unsuccessfully to attempt to open the door.

After several stubborn moments that Connor suspected had more to do with pride than actual belief that she could force the doors open, Abby abandoned her futile attempts and slumped down to sit on the floor, leaning her back against the wall. Connor followed suit, sliding down the opposite wall until they were facing one another.

“Abby,” he said feigning calmness, “we’re trapped in here, at least for the moment. But if we can’t get out, then maybe no one can get in either. “

“And _why_ would we want that?” Abby asked.

“The way the comms went down, the door being locked from the outside- those aren’t signs of good things happening. Maybe trapped in here is the safest place to be for the moment.”

“Our friends are out there, Connor,” she argued, her eyes flashing protectively. “And given our luck, somehow I don’t think we’re necessarily any safer trapped in here than out there helping, do you?”

The gunfire started a few seconds later, echoing through the halls just outside the menagerie door. Abby flinched away from the door and scooted across the space to sit next to Connor.

“I hate being right all the time,” he mumbled.

*             *             *             *             *

“Stand up!” the guard barked, angling his rifle towards his prisoners.

Becker and Matt climbed to their feet with some difficultly as their hands were still bound behind their backs.

The tall guard signed impatiently before shoving Matt towards his shorter counterpart. “You’ll take that one to the others; the captain goes to the boss.”

Becker and Matt exchanged a quick glance and Matt shrugged minutely. Becker had assumed that he and Matt were being held separately from the other hostages because they had been recognized as members of the senior staff.

“Where are you taking him?” Becker demanded.

“He’ll be plenty safe with the others so long as everyone cooperates,” the first guard answered, waving off his concern. He glanced at his watch again and tapped it impatiently. “Now, let’s go.”

It seemed that the “boss” may not have given his men sufficient instructions- or that his information was seriously out of date- if they did not recognize Matt as a ranking member of the ARC staff. That lack of information might be useful later, but if they allowed themselves to be separated they would lose what little tactical advantage they had.

Matt and Becker marched out of the room, trailed closely by their captors. Becker did not want to risk revealing Jess’s position, no matter how safe she insisted she was, but the alternative was worse at this point. He did his best to put a few extra feet between himself and the guards and waited until they were whispering to one another before he risked speaking into his earpiece.

“Okay, Jess. Do something.”

“Give me a minute,” she said briskly. He could hear her fingers flying over her keyboard in the background.

Becker jabbed Matt’s side with his elbow, trying to catch his attention. Matt glanced toward him questioningly.

“What?” he whispered.

“Shut up!” the short guard snapped, shoving Matt further forward with the butt of his rifle.

“When you take the next corner,” Jess said calmly in his ear, “you’ll be temporarily out of view of the cameras. When you do, it’s going to get dark- _very_ dark- for ten seconds and then the lights will kick back on automatically. Be ready in three… two…”

Becker caught Matt’s eye and nodded sharply as they were marched around the corner into a junction of corridors.

“One.”

The darkness was absolute and instantaneous; Jess had shut off all the lights in all the surrounding corridors so there was not even any ambient light to aid them.

Matt and Becker turned as one and rushed their attackers, who had been caught completely off-guard by the sudden plunge into blackness. Without speaking, they each attacked the guard closest to them, Matt the shorter of the two and Becker the taller. Becker ducked his head and allowed his shoulder to connect heavily with the man’s chest, knocking him off-balance, before spinning to kick his stomach, sending the guard flying to the ground and severely winded. He advanced again before his opponent could gather his wits and return the attack. The toe of his boot touched the rifle the guard had dropped and he swept it to the side, out of his reach. Judging his opponent’s position by his heavy breathing, Becker took a step closer, dropping as lightly as he could to his knees. He planted his left knee firmly onto the man’s chest to hold him down and pressed the right against his throat, cutting off the flow of oxygen and blood to his brain. It was impossible to tell from the scuffling noises to his left how Matt was faring in his fight, but there was nothing he could do to help him until the lights returned. Becker counted in his head, waiting for the man beneath him to stop struggling before easing the pressure away from the guard’s neck. He needed to incapacitate the man, certainly, but not kill him. They might need to question him later.

The lights flashed back on, temporarily blinding Becker. As he blinked against the sudden brightness, he saw Matt still tangled with his attacker, his legs locked around the man’s neck in a triangle choke.

“He’s down,” he assured Matt, who immediately released his grip on the man’s neck and slowly pushed himself back up to his knees.

“And what the hell was that?” Matt demanded as Becker crouched down to snag a knife from the tall guard’s belt.

Becker did not answer as he twisted the knife awkwardly in his hands to cut through the zip ties that bound his wrists. He stepped behind Matt and cut his hands free as well before picking up one of the abandoned rifles and inspected it.

“Becker? Are you two all right?” a voice in his ear asked.

“Excellent timing,” he replied. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Jess replied cheerfully. “After all, what’s a field coordinator without people to coordinate?”

“So glad to be useful.”

Matt looked at Becker as though he had lost his mind. “Who are you talking to?”

“Jess,” Becker explained simply, pointing to his earpiece. He set to work stripping the guard of his weapons and tactical vest, which he tossed to Matt. “We’re a little bit exposed here,” Becker continued, glancing up and down the empty corridors.

“You’re clear for the moment. It looks like the patrols are moving away from your current position.”

“We need to see what’s happening,” Becker said, tucking the knife into his boot and searching through the guard’s pockets for other useful items as Matt did the same. “Any suggestions as to where we go from here?”

“You need to get to a computer terminal,” she instructed. “I’ll take it from there. There’s an empty lab about twenty meters from you at the northern end of the corridor. Just give me a minute to fix the cameras so anyone else watching won’t see you. And I might suggest taking the guards with you so another patrol doesn’t trip over them and know you’ve escaped.”

Becker relayed Jess’s message to Matt, who leaned against the wall to catch his breath after the fight.

“Was she able to get in touch with Lester?” Matt asked, eagerly inspecting the weapons he had collected from the guard.

“My phone is dead, remember? And being locked in a closet didn’t do much to increase my options for communications either,” Jess said rather testily. “Tell Matt I’m doing everything I can- which is more than most people can do under the best of circumstances- and that-”

“She says we’re on our own for now,” Becker paraphrased with a smirk.

“Damn,” Matt muttered. “Just once it would be nice if we could get ourselves into a situation where back-up _was_ an option.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind next time we invite mystery forces to attack the ARC.”

“This _is_ getting to be a bit of a bad habit with you people, isn’t it?” Matt asked cheekily.

Becker ignored the jibe and focused on turning his attention back to the problem at hand. “What happened after I left you and Jess?”

“When we heard the gunfire, I went after you. Obviously I didn’t get very far before I ran into trouble,” Matt said, indicating his swollen eye. “What happened to you?”

“I got caught by a group of them,” Becker explained grimly. “I was winning until they activated the earpiece disruptor. They shot me with my EMD and took me to that room.”

“What happened to your earpiece?” Matt asked curiously.

“You didn’t have yours in…” Becker said suspiciously, gazing intently at Matt’s blackened eye.

“No, I didn’t,” Matt agreed, still not catching on.

“If you didn’t have your earpiece in, then you didn’t hear the disruptor tone.” Becker’s face shone with competitive smugness as he explained the tone the intruders had used to disable the security team and jam the frequency. “How many did you say you fought?”

“Two,” Matt answered defensively, making a face at Becker who smirked victoriously. “But they were very big and very… surprising.”

“Sure,” Becker offered loftily. “I understand.”

Jess rejoined the conversation, cutting his gloating short. “You can tease Matt later, Becker. I’ve put the cameras in the corridor and the lab on a loop, but there’s a patrol coming your way. I’ll have to reset the loop before they arrive, so you need to go now.”

“Got it.” He glanced over his shoulder at Matt. “I should probably go first. There could be trouble ahead and if you don’t think you’re up to the challenge…”

“Careful, pretty boy,” Matt growled, grabbing the collar of one of the guards and dragging his dead weight behind him as he shoved past Becker.

Becker suppressed a smirk and followed suit, dragging the remaining guard behind him, carefully checking that they had not left any signs that there had been a disturbance. The guard was heavier than he had expected and it took some careful maneuvering to get the man’s prone figure through the doorway without further injuring him- not that Becker was overly concerned about that. He locked the door behind him and tossed the second guard next to the first in a sloppy pile by the door. Matt began rifling through the lab, looking for anything useful as Becker sat down at the computer workstation closest to him.

“All right, Jess, I’m at a computer. Now what?”

“I see you,” she said. Becker glanced around until he located the surveillance camera mounted in the corner of the lab. “Don’t worry, no one else can. Now, log onto the network using this user name and password.” She rattled off two long series of letters and numbers.

“What is that?” Matt asked from across the room as Becker dutifully typed in the credentials.

“It’s an override I built into the system after the New Dawn incident.”

“An override you built into the system with Lester’s knowledge and permission, of course,” Becker said sardonically, shooting a bemused look at the camera.

“Please, it would have taken me ten times longer to explain what I wanted to do that to just do it,” she answered airily. “And what Lester doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I switched him over to decaf coffee months ago and he _still_ hasn’t noticed.”

“You still should have run this by me, Jess,” Matt said firmly, knowing she could hear him over the open channel. “I don’t like having holes in the system.”

“If you don’t like it, don’t use it,” she shot back calmly. “I’ll apologize once we aren’t all being held hostage.”

“And why can’t I just use my normal passcode?” Becker asked.

“Because we aren’t the only ones in the system right now. Whoever broke into the ARC also found a way onto our network. If you log in like you normally would, they would be able to see what you were doing and trace it back to the computer terminal.”

Becker’s fingers hovered over the keyboard as he paused to process this information. “If you know they’re on the network, do they know you’re there as well?”

Jess paused before she spoke again and her silence answered his question. “Yes, they know there’s someone poking around. They probably know I’ve been fiddling with the cameras, and by now, they probably know that I helped some prisoners escape. But there’s no way for them to find me or you, so there’s no reason to worry yet.”

“Can you see what they’re doing?” Matt asked, as he joined Becker at the computer, abandoning his search of the lab.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it. Whoever it is, they’re very good at covering their tracks.”

“How did all this happen, Jess?” Matt asked. 

“You’re going to have to see it to believe it. I’m accessing archived footage from the time the alarm went off,” she answered. “You should see it on your screen… now.”

They watched the scene unfold. Just from the camera angles they were watching, Jess counted at least a dozen anomalies opening at different, seemingly random places throughout the facility.

“Anomalies?” Matt asked incredulously. “They created anomalies?”

“They created anomalies at strategic points throughout the ARC. That’s how they overwhelmed security so quickly.”

“Do you have any thoughts on who’s behind this?”

“No,” Jess replied. “I haven’t had enough time yet to analyze the footage.”

“We’ll deal with that later, Matt,” Becker said. “What’s the status of the rest of the ARC?”

Images flashed on the screen too quickly for Becker and Matt to get anything but a general impression of what was happening.

 “You’ve been looking at this longer than us, Jess,” Matt said. “What can you tell us about our friends?”

“I count approximately twenty of them, not including the ones you took care of. No more than thirty, as far as I can see. They’re all heavily armed and wearing tactical gear, though they haven’t killed anyone as far as I’ve seen. Also, none of them are wearing earpieces or carrying radios.”

Becker repeated her observations for Matt. “No communication devices?”

“Not that I can see,” she replied.

“We didn’t find anything on the guards when we searched them,” Becker mused. “So how are they communicating with one another?”

“That’s a riddle for another time,” Matt interjected, echoing Becker’s earlier sentiment. “Is there any way to know who was in the ARC when the alarm went off?”

“Lester left at five o’clock with most of the staff. The relief field coordinator and most of the night shift were here, with the exception of a few scientists, according to the log book. It looks like most of the support staff were held up at security and hadn’t made it into the building when the alarm went off. Besides that, Connor and Abby were in the menagerie. I’ve tried to reconnect their comms, but they haven’t answered and the cameras for that section are down, so I can’t get a visual. And, of course, there’s us and Emily, and anyone else who worked a few minutes late tonight.”

“Where is Emily right now?” Matt asked, finally giving into his worry. “Have you seen her yet?”

“She was somewhere between your office and her quarters when the alarm sounded, as far as I can tell. I haven’t seen her since, but I have a pretty good guess of where to start looking: the camera in Matt’s office has been disabled.”

Matt cursed under his breath. “That sounds like her. Can you show us the surrounding areas?”

Jess immediately called up the images he requested. “I haven’t seen her, but I don’t think she could have gotten far without being caught on camera.”

“Can you fix her comm like you did mine?” Becker asked.

“Sorry,” she replied. “And technically I didn’t fix your earpiece; whoever took over the ARC is jamming the frequencies we broadcast on, so I set up a new channel for us. I can bring anyone _onto_ the new channel if I know their radio number, but I have to be careful. I can’t tell from this computer if she even has her earpiece in anymore. If one of the intruders picks up the wrong earpiece and listens in…”

Becker and Matt exchanged a silent look. Without active comms it would be much harder to coordinate any kind of effort to retake the ARC, if it could even be done at all given their limited resources.

“Okay,” Becker announced, breaking the silence, “that’s enough talk for now; it’s time to regroup. Jess, tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

She quickly described the location of the closet where Matt had stashed her. “But I’m perfectly fine where I am for now, Becker. I’m not sure you could make it all the way here without running into trouble.”

“Trouble is relative,” he argued. “You’re only a few corridors over from us.”

“True, but they’re still running patrols,” she replied. She brought up several screens, showing the intruders paired off, still calmly patrolling the corridors, presumably searching for any staff who had not been captured in the initial incursion.

“Jess is right,” Matt said, injecting himself into the conversation. “She’s safe where she is for now, so she should stay put until we have a better plan. Agreed?”

Becker only stared at him, crossing his arms over his chest. The look on his face made it clear that no argument would overrule his decision. “And we need to get Matt an earpiece,” Becker continued as though he had not heard any dissent. “I’m tired of playing telephone.”

“And just where are we going to go, Captain Becker?” Jess inquired politely, though he could almost hear her rolling her eyes at his stubbornness.  

“We’ll go to the armory,” he decided. “You’re right- the patrols are moving away from the center of the building. I don’t think we’ll have too much difficulty getting there if we’re careful. It’s a secure room and, best of all, it has weapons.”

“I thought you’d be pleased, Action Man,” Matt said, gesturing to the desk covered with the weapons they had collected from their captors. “Real guns, remember?”

“Yes, real guns and a real lack of ammunition. Not really a winning combination. And while I’m usually all for more conventional, lethal weapons, in this case, they do lack the… subtlety of the EMDs.”

Matt sighed impatiently, but nodded to Becker in concession. “You _may_ have a point. We need supplies before we can make a move, so we may as well regroup now.” He stared at the screen for a long moment, presumably studying the guards’ movements. “If you’re going to get Jess, I’m going to find Emily. Once we’re all together, we can decide how to proceed.”

“Excellent,” Becker said, clapping his hands together. “Jess, can you do anything about the cameras?”

“I’ll take care of the cameras for Matt as best I can from here,” Jess said. “And I’ll put them on a timed loop so he can get back to the armory. Just tell him to go slowly and be careful- I won’t be able to warn him if he’s running into trouble.”

Becker repeated Jess’s last instruction and glanced at his watch. “We’ll meet you in the armory in… thirty minutes’ time.”

“What’s your plan for dealing with our pals here?” Matt jerked his head toward the still-unconscious men.

Becker produced a handful of zip ties he had taken from the guard’s pocket. “I’ll take care of it- turnabout is fair play.” He nodded toward a supply cupboard at the back of the darkened lab. “We can chuck them in there and lock the door. We certainly aren’t taking them with us.”

Matt nodded his agreement. “Good luck,” he called quietly over his shoulder as he slipped out the door.

Becker turned back to the computer screen and narrowed his eyes as he focused on memorizing the patrols’ patterns.

“You’ve got five minutes, Jessica,” he said firmly. “And then I’m coming to get you, whether you’re done or not. Understand?”

“Yes, _Hilary_.”  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: My beta and I have relocated to our Bunker of Hiding out of concern for our safety because we are such horrible updaters. Obviously, the easiest solution to this would be for us to write/edit faster- which we are working on. We are just both also working on jobs, college degrees, other writing projects, and this delightful habit we’ve picked up called “sleeping.”
> 
> However, we really, really are working hard on getting the next few chapters done. Cross my heart and may Jecker die, stick a needle in my beta’s eye (Sorry, Ellen).


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